Xperience This!

A few weeks ago, I was asked by a company marketer – let’s call the company High-End Department Store - to participate in their first attempt at viral marketing activity as a brand influencer for Sam Edelman, a popular shoe designer.  To participate, all I had to do was write interesting blog posts about my experiences wearing a pair of Sam Edelman shoes.  They provided the shoes and a list of “hot spots” for me to go wearing them.  This assignment lasted 2 weeks and culminated in a private shoe party for those in my network, the networks of the other 3 influencers, and some of their “key” clients. 

I volunteered not just because I love shoes and social media, but because I figured I’d learn a thing or two about the burgeoning world of influenced viral marketing. And boy did I learn some things. I decided to write a brief white paper on my experience, Turning the Tables on SM Viral Marketing.  Below I’ve summarized the lessons I learned during my brief time as a product influencer about the do’s and don’ts of running a viral marketing strategy.  More »

Kathleen Fourte (MISI XD group EA) and I attended the Food & Drug Administration’s Public Hearing on the Promotion of Medical Products using the Internet and Social Media Tools.  MISI had insights to share from countless contextual inquiries and usability tests with patients, caregivers, and physicians (both primary care and specialists).  We wanted to demonstrate how these people’s needs and perceptions shape the experiences they seek when they interact using social media tools. We further wanted to note how core experience design principles can help address questions being asked regarding how pharmaceutical companies should handle key information when interacting with their audiences in the social media space.  More »